moving: in which state is my child eligible for in-state tuition?

Parents Forum
1

<p>Scenario: Student who has lived in NJ for 13 years knows there is a good chance her family will move to NC during the summer before she begins college. She would like to attend Rutgers if living in NJ and UNC if living in NC, paying in-state tuition.</p>

<p>You must be a resident 12 mos. before qualifying for in-state tuition in NC. </p>

<p>If you are resident of NJ when applying for college in the fall and filling out the FAFSA and other forms, are you still considered a resident of NJ the following fall for your freshman year even if your family has moved out of state?</p>

<p>What are the rules governing this situation? </p>

<p>Does a student whose family is in-between states (moving from one where she has been a long-term resident to another where her family has a new job and intends to stay indefinitely) qualify in one state or another for in-state tuition during that first 12 months? Surely she should qualify in one state or another, right?</p>

2

<p>Not necessarily. I don’t know the specific laws of each state and rules set by each institution, but it might be that at least for a year she will not be considered a resident of either. </p>

<p>You will have to call each University to find out their requirements.</p>

3

<p>For UNC when is she applying? During her senior year while she is still a NJ resident? </p>

<p>If so, the cap for OOS students is no more than 18%. She would need ivy-like stats to get in to UNC-Chapel Hill. If it is another one of the UNC campuses than those stats are not necessary BUT the 18% cap remains, again making it a difficult admit.</p>

<p>She would be applying in Nov of her senior year while she is still residing in NJ as an OOS.</p>

<p>If she does not apply then, waits 1 year after her family has moved than that is a different story.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

4

<p>I’d apply for a few UNC campuses, in addition to Chapel Hill. I’m GUESSING that it is less difficult to transfer to Chapel Hill if you are coming from another UNC campus where you have done very well academically. Then, as soon as legally possible, everything in the family should be changed over to a NC address, so you can start the time clock to get in-state tuition and admissions. </p>

<p>Each state has peculiarities in their in-state rules.</p>

5

<p>Each state, and in many cases each public institution in that state, sets its own policy about this. If you can’t find it on the college/university website, pick up the phone, call, and ask. Then get IN WRITING the precise information for that particular institution.</p>

<p>Don’t forget that this year’s policy may suddenly become more restrictive in the future depending on the whims of the state legislators. If you are counting on an “in-state at first enrollment means in-state for four years” policy, then make sure you have a formal hard-copy of that commitment in hand in case you need to fight for continuance of in-state status.</p>

6

<p>You may find that the answer to your initial question is “neither.”</p>

<p>If the family does indeed move at the time you’re expecting, your daughter may need to take a gap year, making sure to reside in North Carolina throughout, to qualify for in-state tuition there.</p>

7

<p>We may have relocation issues and have checked into this with a couple different schools and they each have their own idea of what qualifies for in-state. In one case we want to keep our current state’s residency and the school in question said that if the parents move after graduation the student can keep in-state residency. For the new state, as long as the purpose of the move was not to go to school, you will qualify for in-state tuition. For us it is kind of the best of both worlds but we will still get things in writing if we need to.</p>

8

<p>Once they’re enrolled, students typically aren’t penalized by having their parents move. You need to check with each of the institutions. If Rutgers won’t give in-state for fall when the family moves just before fall, entering Rutgers over the summer might be a strategy.</p>

9

<p>gadad, when you say the student is not typically penalized for their parents’ move after enrolling, are you referring to the student’s first year, or subsequent years also? </p>

<p>One of the scenarios I am worried about is qualifying for in-state tuition at Rutgers based on living in NJ when applying, but only qualifying for the 1st year. Then, for the sophomore year, not only would she not qualify for in-state tuition at Rutgers, but because she has not been living in NC with her parents, she would not qualify there either.</p>

10

<p>I don’t know of any college or system that would treat a student who was a resident of that state when she enrolled as a non-resident if her family moved while she was in college, provided that she didn’t take time off (beyond normal vacations) and live in the other state. I would bet at any public university of any size there are multiple kids each year with this issue, so it shouldn’t be a source of any real confusion. As long as the student did the normal things to maintain residency – register to vote, have a driver’s license, file resident tax returns for any income, maintain a local address – I think it would be unconstitutional for a public institution to deprive an adult student of residency benefits, even if she were not self-supporting. It is one thing to deny a newcomer residency status if she does not have a connection to the state other than as a student; it’s another to take away her clear pre-existing residency status if she has done nothing to indicate that she lives anywhere else. </p>

<p>Here’s the Penn State policy, which I bet is fairly typical:</p>

<p>

[quote]
If the parents of a resident student move to another state, will that student be reclassified as a non-resident for tuition purposes?</p>

<p>Possibly. A student who changes his/her place of residence from Pennsylvania to another state is required to give prompt written notice of this change to the University and shall be considered for reclassification effective with the date of such change. The written notice should be provided to the Residency Appeal Officer, 103 Shields Building, University Park, PA 16802.</p>

<p>If a student has maintained continuous residence in the Commonwealth for other than educational purposes for a period of at least 12 months immediately prior to his/her initial enrollment at The Pennsylvania State University and, the student continues to maintain such separate residence, the residency of the parents generally does not come into play.</p>

<p>My parents moved out of state while I was a senior in high school - can I still be considered a resident for tuition purposes?</p>

<p>If the student remains in the Commonwealth and graduates from a Pennsylvania high school, it may be possible to be considered a resident for tuition purposes, depending on the circumstances of the case.</p>

<p>However, if the student relocates with the parents out of the state, and does not have 12 months of residency for non-educational reasons prior to enrollment at Penn State, the student would most likely be classified as a non-resident. There is no “banking” of prior time in the Commonwealth - the residency requirements relate to the 12 months preceding enrollment at the University.<a href=“emphasis%20added”>/quote</a></p>

11

<p>I found this on the Rutgers site:</p>

<p>“Any dependent student who is domiciled in the State for tuition purposes shall continue to be eligible for New Jersey Resident Tuition Status despite his or her supporting parent(s) /or U.S. Court Appointed legal guardian(s) change of domicile to another state, while such student continues to reside in New Jersey during the course of each academic year.”</p>

<p>So another question is at what point is it officially determined that a student is a resident and therefore qualifies for in-state tuition? When the student accepts admission and begins paying fees to hold her place? When the academic year actually begins in the fall? Another time?</p>

12

<p>If your child enrolls as an instate student, they remain an instate student for tuition purposes for the full four years at Rutgers.</p>

<p>When are you planning to relocate? You might want to stay put until the academic year starts.</p>

13

<p>Unfortunately, my husband is a professor himself and we’d need to relocate several months before the new school year starts.</p>

14

<p>

Why don’t you ask Rutgers directly? They’ll give you the most accurate information.</p>

<p>California and Texas have a “census” date a few days after the beginning of classes for each term. Not that’s it’s relevant, but California lets dependents pay in-state tuition as long as their parents moved out of state less than one year prior to enrollment, provided the dependent stayed behind in California. Just one more possible scenario.</p>

15

<p>Your husband has to go…but do you?</p>

16

<p>This is from the Rutgers site:

</p>

<p>

[url=<a href=“http://admissions.rutgers.edu/Costs/TuitionAndFees/NJTuitionEligibility.aspx]Rutgers”>http://admissions.rutgers.edu/Costs/TuitionAndFees/NJTuitionEligibility.aspx]Rutgers</a> | Rutgers Admissions<a href=“emphasis%20added”>/url</a>.</p>

<p>If your child has been schooled in and graduated high school in New Jersey, she should be able to petition for in-state status and get it.</p>

17

<p>SmileAMile - I have the exact issue you do. We are planning to move out of NJ after my son graduates HS because of a job situation. Likely, like you, we will move in the summer since we have another child beginning HS. My son is serious considering Rutgers for Fall 2013. Not sure if you called anyone on this yet. I plan on calling admissions and see who I should speak with and then have them put it in writing. I want our son to be able to evaulate the schools not only from a preference standpoint but cost. In state/out of state is a huge difference. Anyway, I’ll repost when I have more info. But if you have anything to share please let me know. Thanks</p>

18

<p>Update - I did call Rutgers and I am awaiting admissions return call. Inadvertently, I was transferred to the registrar office …I guess I wasn’t clear that my son was not yet enrolled because the registrar only handles residency issues with enrolled students. The gentleman in registrar was helpful thu…he said if at the time of applying my son had in state residence and was accepted on that basis he would be considered in state. He wouldn’t elaborate on it any further (4 yrs or not) because he said admissions handles these issues and will explain everything to me. So if anyone has this issue call admissions, you need the RUID, then they email the appropiate party to get back to you discuss your residency status.</p>

<p>Also I don’t think I said this but my son has lived in NJ all of his life so 17 years (me 45 yrs, husband 22yrs) and he will be graduating HS in NJ. If we move it would be during the summer.</p>

19

<p>Did you check out the links earlier in this thread? I think it was from them that we were reassured that our child would qualify for in-state tuition even though we are moving. Sounds like you made some good progress today.</p>

20

<p>Did you check and see if the state has a rule? In Georgia if the student is a resident on the first day of class and has lived in Georgia 12 months then it doesn’t matter if the parent moves as long as the student stays enrolled in a college in Georgia.</p>

<p>Maybe they have a similar rule there?</p>